Faster aging pace linked to smaller brains and dementia
People whose measured aging pace accelerated had 66% higher relative dementia risk than those with a steady average pace over a median 5.6 years.
Limit: Change-based analyses excluded people whose aging pace stayed consistently slow or fast
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
This observational cohort study analyzed 2,081 older adults from the Reykjavik region of Iceland, assessed at average ages of about 76 and 81. Researchers used DunedinPACE, a measure that estimates aging pace from chemical marks on DNA in blood. They compared changes over about five years with brain scans and later dementia diagnoses.
People who shifted to faster measured aging had lower brain volumes than those whose pace stayed average. In the dementia analysis, 64 of 375 people with accelerating aging developed dementia, compared with 129 of 1,048 whose pace stayed average, over a median 5.6 years. Links with brain infarcts, areas of dead tissue, and thinking skills largely reflected cumulative lifetime exposures.
Why it matters
The findings highlight questions about when biological aging becomes linked to brain health. The authors called for further investigation into the timing, reversibility and pathways of these links.
Caveats
These observational links cannot establish that faster biological aging caused brain changes or dementia. The findings concern older adults from one Icelandic region, and change-based analyses excluded people whose measured aging pace stayed consistently slow or fast.
The paper
National Institute on Aging
Alzheimer's & Dementia, Jun 27, 2026, Open access
